John W. Henry is featured in Financial World Wall Street 100

The 39-year-old commodities fund manager switched colleges as aggresively as he trades financial futures and currencies, attending four without graduating. Last year, his currencies, which account for half the $200 million he manages, were up 47%. The other $100 million was up only about 1.5%. Much of his compensation was in deferred fees stemming from late 1987 currency gains.

Commodities trader and a farmer by trade. Grew soybeans, corn, rice and cotton in Tennessee and Illinois and started hedging the crops prices in the futures market. Hooked, he began speculating. His first real speculative position came when he was certain soybean prices would rise. He was advised to sell a soybean futures contract to hedge his crop. He went with his instincts instead, bought futures and made a profit of $75,000. In 1980, after years of studying the futures market, Henry came up with a trading system based on the turn-of-the-century work of futures market pioneer W.D. Gann. Henry, 40, recently became principal owner of baseballs Tucson Toros, a Triple-A minor league baseball team, and of the West Palm Beach Tropics in the Senior League (see page 49). He attended but never graduated from a series of colleges, including Victor Valley Junior College in Victorville, Cal., the University of California at Riverside and UCLA, mostly studying philosophy.

TurtleTrader comment: John Henry is NOT based on Gann, nor was Gann a pioneer. The writer for Financial World was mistaken.

Financial World
The Wall Street 100
By Stephen Taub and David Carey with Alison M. Smith
July 21, 1992
Page 40

No. 6 JOHN HENRY
John W. Henry & Co.
At least $50 million
Back when John Henry was raising soybeans, he reaped a $75,000 windfall one day by hedging his crop. Although today he ascribes that feat to "pure luck," he was hooked for life on the futures market. By 1981 Henry was managing money full-time, plying six mathematical models he devised to trade everything from currencies to grain futures. Last year, on the strength of long stakes in Japanese bonds and assorted currency wagers, he outshone renowned rivals Paul Jones and Bruce Kovner by posting a 69% gain in his biggest fund, the Financial and Metals Portfolio. At year-end, Henry, 42, was overseeing more than $690 million in assets.

Financial World
The Wall Street 100
Compensation was way down in 1994 for Wall Streets highest earners
By Stephen Taub and David Carey with Andrew Osterland and David Yee
July 5, 1994
Page 44

No. 28 JOHN HENRY
John W. Henry & Co.

The Wall Street 100s Comeback Player of the Year. Futures and currencies trader John Henry, 44, who moved the bulk of his operations from Westport, Conn., to Boca Raton, Fla., a few years ago, rebounded strongly in 1993 from an uncharacteristically poor showing in 1992, when his biggest fund, the Financial and Metals Portfolio, was down 10.9%. That same fund soared a net 46.6% last year, helping to inflate Henrys total pool of assets to $1.1 billion by the end of the year. Henry may be the only Wall Street 100 member who started his career as a farmer. He inherited a couple of farms in Arkansas and Illinois from his father. Then one day in 1976 someone advised him to hedge his soybean crop against a price decline by selling a bean contract. Henry decided to speculate that beans would rise instead, and he bagged a swift $75,000 profit. By 1981 he was trading full-time, and today oversees nine funds that employ distinct trend-tracking models.

Financial World
The Wall Street 100
By David Carey and Stephen Taub
October 21, 1996
Page 60